Hubble Photographs Jupiter's New "Scar"

BearRanger writes "Calibration of new systems in the Hubble Space Telescope (installed in May by Shuttle Atlantis astronauts) were interrupted to take pictures of the new 'scar' near the south pole of Jupiter. The scar is believed to have been caused by the impact of an asteroid or small comet with the gas giant, which we discussed last Sunday. Hubble's return to service will be delayed by this interruption, but NASA says that rare events such as this warrant the delay. This is only the second recorded impact of an object with Jupiter."

Comments

Hubble seems really upgraded

[ZosX]

This is a pretty great image. I don't remember shots of jupiter looking anywhere near this good before. I really can't wait to see what the new hubble is capable of producing.

Re:Hubble seems really upgraded

[j-stroy]

The hi-res image shows a strong purple colour and a vivid blue bit on the top edge of the blackness. Is this real? Or is it a chromatic artifact from the calibration being unfinished?

Have they detailed the calibration milestones?

Re:Hubble seems really upgraded

[ZosX]

looks like chromatic aberration to me. it is an optical problem and can be controlled with software, but pretty common on anything with any kind of optical magnification.

Re:Hubble seems really upgraded

[camperdave]

This is nothing compared to the shots from the Galileo spacecraft. We would be getting awesome shots of this impact if NASA hadn't suicided the probe in 2003.

We may not have been able to see anything. Probes like Galileo have thrusters to move themselves about while in orbit. These thrusters use fuel. Galileo was launched in 1989, and swung by Venus, Earth (twice) and a couple of asteroids, using fuel for course corrections for each flyby. In 1995 it had to perform various orbital insertion burns to enter Jupiter's orbit, again using fuel. Galileo then changed orbit several times to visit the various moons of Jupiter, each thrust burning off more fuel. This lasted until 2003, when the propellant tanks were dry. There was just enough fuel to ditch the craft into Jupiter (so it wouldn't accidentally crash into Europa, and contaminate possible life there).

So had it been left in orbit, with no manoeuvring fuel left with which to make course corrections or even re-orient the craft itself, it might possibly have survived the radiation and magnetic fields, the dozens of moons and moonlets, and the strong gravitational pull of Big J. But even if it survived to this day, without fuel, there is no attitude correction. It probably would have been pointing in the wrong direction.

Star Wars anyone?

[Midnight Thunder]

"The new camera, installed by the astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis in May, is not yet fully calibrated. While it is possible to obtain celestial images, the camera's full power has yet to be seen."

I don't know, but I am just imagining the same words being uttered on the Death Star, albeit in a slightly different context.

Size

[gmerideth]

Has there been any mention of the size of that scar? I know the red spot can hold 2-3 earths but what size is that scar?

Re:Size

[ushering05401]

Original reports said it was the size of the pacific ocean. I am guessing that the size is changing pretty constantly, though.

Re:Size

[j-stroy]

about the size of the Pacific Ocean, according to one astronomer's estimates.

Re:Size

[Henry V .009]

There's already a wonderful way to deflect asteroids. It's called Jupiter.

Re:Still justifying its existence

[tuxgeek]

The resolution of the full size image of Hubble is incredible.
I have always been a fan of the Hubble site and still remain today.

I was heart broken, as well as many others, a few years back when bush wanted to scrap Hubble.
I hope we learned from that near mistake and keep the thing going for years to come.

It will only continue to provide new discoveries with each passing year.
A very valuable asset to science.

Re:Dave what are you doing.....

[SoundGuyNoise]

My god, it's full of scars!

Jupiter is always in the right place

[mister_playboy]

Jupiter's gravity well is far bigger in influence than all the other planets combined. Jupiter contains 72% of the total mass orbiting the Sun. Small objects are influenced profoundly by Jupiter's gravity no matter where it is in its orbit.

As an example of its magnitude...Jupiter's barycenter of mass with the Sun actually lies at 1.020 Solar radii... not physically within the Sun itself.